WIN! An Olympus TG-1 Tough Camera

We’ve already given away some killer prizes, and now we’re down to the last giveaway for 2012. How do you fancy an awesome new Olympus TG-1 Tough Camera valued at $499? Here’s how you win…

This competition is now closed.

Who Won?

Sockparty picks up the TG-1 after his amazing story about mutually-assured camera theft destruction.

It was during my first trip to London. It was my first morning there, and I was incredibly excited. I had scheduled a huge day of hitting all the touristy spots (Big Ben, Tower bridge, London Eye etc) and I had my Nikon D70 out of its snoot case and ready to go, even though I was still on the underground (which obviously in retrospect was a bit naive).

I was standing in the middle of a not-too-crowded carriage near a set of doors, when the train pulled up at Piccadilly Circus. Just as the doors started to close, a young bloke who I thought was asleep jumped up from a nearby seat, snatched the camera from my shoulder and took off.

Now, you can probably imagine how the story might have ended from there, but in fact this is where things get interesting. For some reason my gut reaction was, rather than chase the guy, to step forward and give the bastard a nice hard ankle tap just as he’d almost cleared the doors.

It turned out to be the perfect move, because as the doors shut I watched from the window as he sprawled out across the platform, A over T, landing directly on top of my camera. The train paused just long enough for me to watch him roll back over and look directly at me in shock, with the broken pieces of my camera underneath where he had landed.

So again, without thinking I flipped him the bird, pressed it up against the window and shouted “HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES, ARSEHOLE?!” before the train finally took off.

Despite the fact that my camera was stolen and subsequently destroyed, it is still one of my proudest moments. Fortunately I got the money back on travel insurance, but the most amusing part was telling the story to the Bobbies – I had to file a police report for the insurance. They all pissed themselves laughing but agreed it was one of the best stories they’d ever heard. Of course the thief was never arrested. But I guess on that day, he forgot to “mind the gap”.

Here’s hoping the TG-1 comes in handy, mate!

The Olympus TG-1 Tough is an excellent camera that packs a 12-megapixel sensor, f/2 lens with 5x telephoto zoom and 1080p video shooting abilities into a weaponised case that can withstand the wet, the dry, the mud and the dirt. It can even hold up against drops. The TG-1 is shock-proof, drop-proof, water-proof, dirt-proof and frost-proof. You’re set for underwater depths up to 12 metres, it’ll withstand a fall of up to 2 metres, a weight of 100 kilograms and can survive temperatures as low as -10 degrees C. The case is also doubly sealed for added protection. It also comes with A-GPS for geotagging your snaps and a 3-inch touchscreen.

It’s worth $499 and we’re excited to give this one away. So how do you win?

To win this amazing camera, all you have to do is tell us how your last camera died. Did you step on it? Perhaps it got wet? My last camera died after it fell off a boat while recording video. At the bottom of a lake in Austria there’s a camera that carries the last moments we ever shared together before it fell…what’s your best story?

Important dates:
• Entries close 10am Thursday December 20
• Winner also announced tomorrow
• Winner will receive the Olympus Tough TG-1 mid-late January 2013 due to end of year
• Full terms and conditions.

The camera wasn't mine (it was my wife's) and it didn't quite die as brutally murdered...

A year ago. Winter. Canon 5D Mk2, the pinnacle of EOS cameras. We were at friends, took some pictures, and left for home. As we were walking out I volunteered to carry my wife's bag. As it was raining, the porch we stepped out to was slippery.
Very slippery.
In a classic slapstick banana-peel routine, my legs went up in the air as my body went down. The camera broke my fall. In between my rapidly decelerating back and the floor.
All the awesome, delicate insides went in a very audible crunch.
Luckily it was insured, so my wife is still my wife...

I was scuba diving, 50 meters underwater, in a shipwreck, with my camera. A little thing called nitrogen narcosis (getting drunk of nitrogen dissolved in your blood) set in and I totally forgot to be careful with my camera. It got bumped on a metal hatch, cracking the case and causing a leak.

My wife has had 3 camera's in the last 3 years:
1st one dropped in the hospital while taking pictures of our 1st child
2nd one dropped into ocean while taking photo's of same baby while they were playing in the shallows, fell over face first, wife decided saving the baby from drowning was more important than holding the camera (priorities...)
3rd one, same child, now a toddler with a "knack for photography" decided that dropping the camera on the floor was the thing to do when they got bored of it.

My last camera died when I was out swimming with sharks. The camera slipped of my wrist and sank to the bottom of the sea. I'm sure if I was to retrieve it now there would be photos of sharks and fish mooning the camera.

My Canon G11 died on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef. Just as the whale breached 5 meters away, the camera decided to die. So not only did I not get a picture of the whale I didn't see much of it as I was occupied trying to get the camera started.
PS: the same location was the place I killed a Nikonos when the back opened underwater when some idiot (me) forgot to check that the back was locked down.

It was a morning time roughly 1130 i was sitting at my desk at home pouring over the Gizmodo website when i saw a camera that caught my eye it was a fine piece Olympus if i remember correctly i looked over at my current camera sadness gripped me and i muttered why don't you look like that you. It did once upon a time it was beautiful being loved by all far across the lands (Cover model too) but since our wedding on that fateful day last year it had let itself go. Too many bad pictures being around too many bad influences and there was no turning back. As i looked at my computer screen and saw this beautiful thing staring back at me i decided then and there enough was enough. i turn back to my camera and say "It is time for you to go" i pick it up rip out my SD card and casually throw it in the bin slamming down the lid for emphasis. I make my way back to my computer click open a link to this beauty and start writing up the tale of how my last camera died.

I don't know if my last camera is actually dead or not. If it is dead, then I have nobody to blame but myself. It saddens me to confess, but I have neglected my camera. I speak of it in the past tense while it sits in my spare room. It's battery probably depleted, card slot empty and untouched for too long.

It wasn't always that way. I got it just before a trip to the US. It offered me a huge zoom, and I didn't have the money for a DSLR. I took it with me on that trip, and I'll admit we took some good photos together, but they never seemed amazing. My partner always seemed to be able to get more out of it than I could.

We kept working together for a while before the incident. A single event that caused a rift we couldn't get past... My dad got a DSLR. In the early days I tried to resist, but I eventually I succumbed to the allure and borrowed it. The photos it took were so much better. I started using my camera less and less. It has now got to the point where I will drive to my parents house to borrow my photographic mistress even though my other camera is right beside me.

it was a canon ixus 65. it had been all over the world with me, and seen some amazing sights!

I was taking a topless 'selfie' using the open window ledge as a stand, and when the camera took the first shot it fell. three stories down. shattering the screen, lens and casing.
i had to pry the memory card out with needle nose pliers.

the worst part is, i didn't even get my 'selfie' shot. the camera fell before it could take my photo.
instead it took a blurred photo of the fall.

Was walking into a swimming hole in North QLD. really hot day and was looking forward to the hike.
was walking down the side of the gorge into the rock pool and a small foot hold broke and my leg fell straight down onto a ledge. My then dslr was in a bag but was broken through the bag. the lens was shattered, body bent and bum was 3 shades of purple, and later 2 shades of yellow.